In a malpractice case filed against the law firm D. & D. PLLC in Nassau County Supreme Court, the plaintiffs alleged that the law firm was negligent in representing them in a personal-injury dispute stemming from an incident which occurred on February 24, 2013, when V.D., a pedestrian, was hit by a vehicle.
After the Nassau County Supreme Court found in favor of the vehicle's owner and operator, and dismissed the underlying personal injury case on the grounds that V.D. had not sustained a "serious injury" as defined by Insurance Law § 5102(d), this legal malpractice case then followed.
When the lawyers later sought to have the case against them dismissed, the judge denied that request.
But on appeal, the Appellate Division, Second Department, reversed. It was of the view that the law firm had demonstrated that V.D. hadn’t sustained a serious injury within the meaning of the law. Since she wouldn’t have prevailed in the underlying personal injury case regardless of the attorneys' actions, the appellate court granted the law firm’s motion for relief in its favor and dismissed the dispute.
Looks like the AD2 sure got serious there.
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DECISION
NO CLAIM, ABSENT A SERIOUS INJURY
NO MALPRACTICE, WHERE UNDERLYING CLAIM WASN’T SERIOUS